Blog #8

  I know some things that I definately need for my film.  I have all of my drawings of course, but I have so many that it’ll be tough to narrow it down.  I think most of them should reflect the mask since that’s where most of my inspiration comes from.  The mask is something I also own and I may or may not incorporate it.  The pictures of Michael will most likely be from the Internet and I might use a lot of them, creating some sort of short montage with them while the Halloween theme plays.  My knee brace is important as well because that was what caused my change.  My trophies and jersey will be in it too to help set up how I was before.

As far as music/ sound is concerned, the Halloween theme will be what most likely plays.  After our discussion in class, I have a feeling that the Requiem For a Dream song is a good one, it may not work as well as I first thought.  I don’t want people thinking my leg gets amputated like Kim had mentioned so I’ll stick with the Halloween theme.  I don’t know however, which version I’ll use because like the mask, the theme too changes in every film.  I’m thinking it’ll either be the original or maybe the Rob Zombie version because his has much more energy behind it and I think it’ll reflect my obsession a little more than the original.  Leave some suggestions, let me know what you guys think.

Again with sound, I think really the only thing I’ll have in the beginning of my film is the sound of breaking bones and have that go with the shot of my brace.

  I think for the language, I’m going to stick to my text boxes for the most part.  Since I find myself relating to Michael so much, I think having my film silent with just the music would be important because he doesn’t speak.  I’d shorten the text boxes so it wouldn’t be so difficult to read, but I’d have to choose my words wisely to get my point across so that’s something I’m taking careful consideration of.  Again, any suggestions for this part would be greatly apperciated.

Film Treatment

  Part I:  

     What I’m trying to understand about this film is what about horror movies draws me towards them.  The obvious subject is that I’m obsessed with Halloween(matter of fact, as I write this, I have the Halloween theme playing.), especially Michael and the whole idea behind his mask.  However, there is a deeper meaning to all this and I feel like it has something to do when I got hurt playing basketball at the age of 13.  Before that, I was drawing cartoon characters, some that we all know and some I just made up.  Horror movies were still a part of my life at this time, but not as big.  When I got hurt, I knew that athletic side of myself was now dead.  Doctors told me I was lucky to still be walking without having surgery because I had done so much damage to my knee.  During my healing process, I focused almost all of my attention on drawing because I knew I had art to rely on.  My drawings took a turn for the dark side at this point too.  I was no longer drawing happy cartoons, I was drawing skulls and things that I were finding inspirational in horror movies.  And I can also remember, at this time, that I was beginning to draw the mask of Michael Myers.  I think this is when my obsession with Halloween began.  I’m hoping by doing this, I, myself, can have a better understanding as to what makes me tick.  I’m also hoping that people see that I have a different feelings about horror movies than they do.  They don’t scare me or disturb me in any way.  I find them inspirational, a key element that I think can clearly be seen in what I draw and continue to draw over and over again.

Part II:

     The thing that is the “shift” in my story is blowing my knee out.  I used to think my injury was just something that happened, an accident if you will.  But now looking back on it, I see that that was what changed me into who I am today.  It happened when I was in Potsdam, NY.  Our last tournament of the year, first game just three days before my fourteenth birthday.  It was literally 2 minutes into the game, I scored my first basket and as we were coming back to play defense, a girl hit me from behind.  The only part of my body that moved was my knee.  I remember clearly hearing the snapping of the ligaments and remembering parents telling me that they could hear my knee popping 20 ft. away.  That’s not only a feeling, but a sound I’ll never forget, that popping of cartilage and ligaments. 

     The effect from getting hurt was that I focused all my attention on my art.  My friends seemed to disappear because they were all busy with their sports.  I was almost a ghost to them at this point.  Sure, they would say hi, but things weren’t the same.  I felt like I no longer mattered to them so I would just go home and watch movies, especially horror.  It made me feel better in some way watching these movies, therapy in a way.  I wasn’t scared to sit by myself and watch them because I had grown up seeing them and knew they weren’t real.  Halloween was obviously (and still is) the movie that truly inspires me.  The whole idea of Michael and the mask is brilliant to me.  Freddy, Jason, Leatherface, they all have their stories, but I don’t see them as interesting as Michael’s.  A six- year old boy suddenly snaps, stabs his sister to death on Halloween night, is placed in an insane asylum, doesn’t speak for fifteen years, escapes the day before Halloween, goes back to his home town, gets a mechanic’s coveralls and a white, emotionless mask and goes on a killing spree.  That idea is so original to me and I find it amusing that there’s no reason why Michael kills his sister when he’s young (at least in the 1978 version there’s no explanation.  Rob Zombie’s there is.) and that it happens in a relatively nice, suburban neighborhood.  What more could you ask for?  I honestly find myself sometimes just sketching out a face and by the time I’m done, it’s turned into the mask.  I don’t do it all the time, like I said, but it does happen.  I think that if I hadn’t have gotten hurt, my life wouldn’t be where it is now.  I think my drawing skills have vastly improved because of the amount of detail I see in horror films and being detail oriented, I try to incorporate as much as I can in my drawings.  If I hadn’t gotten hurt, my drawings would probably remain where they once were, happy cartoon characters, but I think because I concentrate so much on horror, my art draws people in and makes them wonder why I do it in the first place.

Part III:

     What I think of now, as a result from being hurt, is that I’ve become a much better artist.  If I didn’t get hurt, I wouldn’t have had as much time to work on my drawings because I would have been so busy with practice, games, etc.  I know now what that thing was that switched me over to watching horror movies almost every day of my life.  It was being taken away from playing basketball.  I was considered one of the best for Shen when I played and in the blink of an eye, it was gone.  That’s when I focused on horror and drawing things from them I found inspirational.  I think too, that because of everything that has happened it made me realize that I could become a successful tattoo artist.  All of my friends think my drawings are almost like tattoos or at least they could become that.  Even teachers have said the same thing.  I have a couple of my own drawings tattooed on myself and yes, they are horror like in design.  I think everything that I’ve said puts me in a place within the world where I may be looked at as different or odd because I have such a great appreciation for horror movies, especially Halloween.  

     I want my audience to learn that I’m not any different than anyone else. Horror movies to me are what fuels my art, just like being a nanny is what makes some of us want to be a teacher or working with kids with autism makes us understand what really goes on with that disorder.  I hope by the end, people can appreciate and respect my talent and not think of me as a weirdo because I choose to draw horror influenced pictures. 

#7

Halloween trivia/ interesting facts.

image.

Behind the Mask=

I learned that there’s a lot of information about Halloween.  I’ll admit I know some, but not all.  Now my question is, how do I incorporate what I know about the movie and is there anything I can put in that I didn’t know?  Maybe something about Michael I didn’t know from the beginning?  I noticed the obvious connection between the original and the re-make, however Rob Zombie (Behind the Mask) is trying to make Michael “scary.”  My experience is that Michael was never scary, but to others he was.  Through watching the video, it’s clear that this “new” generation of Michael is meant to be nothing but sheer terror.

#6

My very first moment watching “Halloween.”

- At my cousin’s aunt’s house, sitting in front of the tv Halloween night.

- My 2 cousins, both girls, were sitting to the right of me.

- I remember smelling cigarette smoke mixed with that old home smell.

- The room was dimly lit, I think from those pumpkin string lights you can get.

- I remember seeing not Michael first, but one of his victims.  She had been tied to a stretcher, a needle placed in her arm.  A young EMT walked in and saw her lying on the bed with the needle in her arm.  I remember hearing on the tv, this dripping noise.  The camera panned to the nurse’s arm and we could all see that the dripping noise was coming from the blood dripping out of her arm.  The EMT turned to leave the room and slipped in the pool of blood.  I remember then seeing the camera pull out at a wide angle and show that the nurse had bled out almost all the blood in her body.  It wasn’t until the end that I first saw Michael and for what ever reason was immediatly drawn to him.

My second experience with Halloween:

- I was 10 when Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers came out and I literally begged my mom to take me to see it.

- We had to go to the former Mohawk Mall because it wasn’t playing in my hometown mall.  I can remember the drive there and being so excited knowing that Michael was back.

- I remember that familiar popcorn smell of the movie theater and sitting in my seat, anxoiusly waiting for the movie to begin.

- I never moved in my seat, I was glued to it.  My eyes never left the screen as I heard the Halloween theme, signaling the return of Michael as they showed him for the first time. 

- I remember this mask being slightly different, but then again, in every Halloween film, the mask alters in one way or another.

- After the movie, I had goosebumps because I was so excited at what I had just seen.  My favorite icon was back.

I think if I were to choose one of these moments, I would choose the first one because I can remember that the most clearly.  I could almost reinact the memory because I have a younger sister who could be me and use some of her friends.  I would do it maybe in a montage that comes up to how old I am now and how things haven’t really changed for me in terms of Halloween.  I could decorate the one room in my house as close to what I remember, using my string of skulls instead of pumpkins, etc.  and I could make popcorn to help emulate the sense of smell.  Since I own all the Halloweens, I can put the movie on at the exact part that I remember seeing it as.  For editing I would probably do some dissolving images to represent me getting older and also have one of Carpenter’s songs playing in the back to help create a Halloween like mood.

#5

After looking at what everyone has said about my topic choice, there seems to be some reoccuring ideas as to what I should do.  A few want to know what the mask is all about, why Michael has it and why I’m drawn to it so much via my drawings.  The other idea is my first experience with the movie.  What type of feelings did I have when I first watched this movie at the tender age of 5.  I like both of these ideas and I think I’ve begun to think about a more concrete idea.  I believe I’m going to focus on the mask since that is so important to both the film and my own personal life.  Without the mask, there would be no Michael and I would probably be writing about something else that inspires my work.  I hope in the end, I create a piece that explains why this mask and this one alone is so important to me.  At the same time, I worry that it might become more about the mask than what it has to do with me so I’m hoping I can avoid that at all costs.

My questions I’m thinking about:

- Why Michael’s mask? What does it mean?

- What was my first experience like and why has this movie stuck with me for so long?

- What about Michael draws me to him and not any other horror movie icon?

#4

My topic is my obsession with the movie “Halloween.”  I’m interested in the entire movie, not just little tid bits here and there.  Everything from the actual story to the music, even the bloopers are all something I’m strongly into.  I guess this is so important to me because it’s the one horror movie that basically started the whole genre of “slasher” films.  A lot of these types of movies that come out now are one way or another inspired by what John Carpenter did in 1978 so without him and the movie, we wouldn’t see half of what’s out now.  By doing this short personal essay film, I’ll hopefully answer the question as to why I’m so infactuated with this film and maybe make people see where a lot of my inspiration for my drawings comes from.  Not all of them are of Michael, but it’s clear that horror films play a major role in what I do.  On the other hand, I’m worried that people will think I’m just obsessed with a fictional masked psychopathic killer, but that isn’t even remotely part of why I like this movie so much.  That really has nothing to do with my interest in the movie.  I mean yeah, he’s the main character of the film and he always has been, but I’ve always liked the story as to why he wears the mask, not why he kills people.  That doesn’t interest me at all.  It’s just a part of his character, it’s what he does.  Hopefully by the end of this, I can make people understand that “Halloween” is not only an important film for the horror genre, but it’s an important aspect of my life as well because without it, I don’t think I would have as much inspiration to do half the drawings I do now or even in the future.

#3- YouTube

 

This was the first one I found and thought it was quite amusing.  It has some of the characteristics of a personal essay in that it is an experience that someone had and wanted to share.  While there is no writing, the person filming made sure to capture as much as possible so that the viewers would know what was going on.  His/her experience was seeing Pope Benedict when he went to Yankee Stadium.  It shows people flooding the streets outside Yankee Stadium, waiting to get in.  There’s vendors outside selling souveniers, but instead of it being Yankee memoribilia, it’s of the Pope.  I thought it was amusing because it looks as though these people are going to see the Yankees play, but in reality it’s all for the Pope.  I felt this was a good example of a personal essay.

 

 

This is another example I found.  It talks about the time we all remember so well, 9/11.  I felt it was similar to a personal essay because of how it dealt with something we all know about.  No one can forget what happened on Sept. 11 and nobody ever will.  I found it interesting how the author talked about how we all became brother and sisters for a few days afterward, but soon we went back to our usual selves.  People went back to fighting with one another, going back to work, etc.  It was slightly different than the other post in that there was a narrator talking about what happened, etc. etc. but I still felt as though this ran along similar lines to a personal essay.

#2- Intro

- My obsession is with Halloween.  Both the movie and the holiday.  I can watch the movie (both the original and the remake) every day and all day.  Sure, I get made fun of because I can do that, but I don’t care.  It’s just a great movie to me.  My all time favorite.  The holiday is amazing as well.  Something about the month of October gets me excited.. maybe it’s the weather and knowing Halloween is coming.  I don’t know exactly what it is, I just know I love October and Halloween.  I’m not going to lie, I do love scaring kids on that day, even though the original Halloween tradition was to honor the dead, not get candy.

- Some of my hobbies are watching movies, going to concerts with my boyfriend and drawing.  The only thing I’ll mention about concerts for now is that I’m finally going to see my favorite band in August in probably the biggest rock concert of the summer.  Heck yes.  Drawing is a key component in my life.  I try to draw every day because if I don’t, I simply go crazy.  I guess it helps too that I want to be a tattoo artist in the near future so keeping my drawing skills up to par doesn’t hurt anything.  In my past time, I try to go watch my sister play basketball.  I used to play and she grew up watching me play so I think it’s important that I try to catch as many games of hers as possible especially since she’s 6′0 and has colleges already looking at her at the tender age of 15.

- I work at Price Chopper up in Clifton Park.  The produce department is where I call home in terms of my job.  I’ll admit I hate my job, but I’ve made so many friends through that store that it almost makes me cry knowing that soon I’ll be leaving.  It’s not a difficult job, but I’m not kidding when I say that we, as the associates, are not treated as people by the customers.  Maybe it’s just my town, but I do know that if I wasn’t dressed in the Price Chopper attire, I would not be treated like I was some mechanical thing meant to look like a human.  And customers wonder why we’re miserable right back to them…  I’d say I’m pretty involved with the Clifton Park basketball community as well.  I grew up playing in that organization and so have both my sisters as well as my step- dad coaching them.  Everyone knows not only myself, but my entire family as well.

- I know how to make a lot of microwavable and oven ready dinners.  I can also make a mean batch of Kraft Mac ‘n Cheese.  I survive off of that stuff.  I was also taught back in my younger days how to make realistic cuts on people.  Every Halloween I make sure I have the stuff so that I can do them.  I’ve gotten a lot of comments about how good I can make those so I’m pretty proud of that and the fact that sometimes I actually disturb people with how real they can look.

- I’m not deeply familiar with any sort of culture, including my family.  I know a mixture of things regarding my heritage and where relatives have come from, but in my family, we don’t have any sort of tradition in terms of our culture.  I’d say the closest thing we have to anything dealing with family is our annual July bbq at my house.  We do it because my uncle and cousins from Tx. come up so we throw a huge party in my backyard which usually involves us shutting down the street I live on because of the cars blocking the road.

So… that’s pretty much everything there is to know about myself and the things I do.  I don’t know what else there is to say, but if anyone wants to know, feel free to ask.  I’m not afraid to answer questions.

#1

practice link

embed video

 

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